Never let me go
by Gojiberries
Summary: Collected ficlets about Gwen and Arthur set in different situations, eras, dimensions, etc. Some stories will be long enough to continue throughout more than one chapter. Enjoy!


Camelot is a country that has significant similarities to England (it's basically England). This fic is set in an alternative universe sometime during the 1800s. Magic still exists, and the fic isn't entirely historically accurate.

* * *

Tw: domestic abuse.

"Pray tell, what do you have planned on your day off?" Morgana asked her friend with genuine curiosity. "Oh, nothing much, my lady. I will most likely just spend the day reading," Gwen did not engage in eye contact whilst speaking to her friend - she felt it was a too straining thing to do when lying. Gwen had reluctantly withheld the truth from her, as she was afraid that it could potentially jeopardise their friendship. She was quite fond of the nature of their close and amiable relationship and would not want it to turn into a stern and business-like relationship between a usual lady and her maidservant.

Gwen had known Morgana since they were first introduced at the age of seven and eight, respectively. Gwen's father had been a close friend to Morgana's mother, a relationship that her father detested as he could not bare the sight of their familiarity. Morgana's father understood that they were very close friends and that he shouldn't sabotage it - despite his raging jealousy. He was a possessive man, a trait that his wife thought to be very irritable as she naturally disagreed with the ancient notion that a wife was her husband's property - she was a suffragette, after all. There was an additional factor that had frustrated Morgana's father which was that Tom, Gwen's father, his wife's closest friend, had been black. He hid his racism quite well until it became apparent to his wife when she overheard him talking to his friend about how black people are "racially inferior" to the white man. His wife immediately called him out on his racist speech, to which he responded with hitting her savagely. He saw red and could not stop himself from channeling all of his pent up frustrations into violent blows towards his own poor wife. She was taken to the hospital after he finally managed to listen to the pleadings from his momentarily forgotten friend. At the hospital she was declared to be in a deep coma, unable to wake up for a long time, perhaps even years. Therefore, they eventually put her to sleep. And Morgana's father had lied about his abuse, telling everyone that they got attacked by a robber. The friend who had witnessed the cruel beating decided to stay loyal to him, and not say a word about what actually had transpired that evening. Gwen's father had been imprisoned shortly before the death of Morgana's mother, due to him partaking in a riot caused by high unemployment rates and the problematic state of labourers and the working class. He died there due to illness after a couple of years, when Gwen was thirteen years old. Morgana's father, who was haunted by crippling guilt because of what he had done to his wife, decided to take care of Gwen and provide her with food and shelter. However, he had also decided to make her Morgana's maidservant.

After Morgana's father had died of alcohol poisoning, it was up to Uther, the older brother of her late mother, to take her into his care - along with Gwen, who still had the occupation of Morgana's maidservant. Gwen was given a cabin a few kilometres away from the palace where Uther lived. She was also given a curricle and a horse. Uther was the king of Camelot, a country within the british isles.

"Oh, you're no fun at all, Gwen," Morgana said with a sigh. Gwen laughed a bit in response and thought that she would've been aching to tell her the truth if they were in different circumstances. She was after all, going on a date with no other than Arthur, the prince of Camelot and Morgana's cousin. She didn't want to tell her about it as she was afraid that Morgana would react negatively towards her flourishing relationship with Arthur, she was afraid that Morgana would oppose it due to Gwen being a black working class servant, and Arthur being white and the prince of Camelot. She knew that Morgana was a suffragette and her childhood friend, but she didn't want to find out the way her friend would react, after all, what if she would prove to be racist. Not all racist people are as evil as the members of the KKK, some of the most humble and caring people are also capable of subjecting people like Gwen to racist microaggressions; and most people are subconsciously racist.

* * *

Gwen was humming on a cheerful tune whilst arranging her curly hair into a milk-maid braid. She was wearing a metallic-grey silk empire dress with short arms and a silk cream-coloured underdress that was longer than the empire dress - which ended by her knees. Both dresses had been gifts from Morgana, who loved to pamper her with exquisite gifts that she otherwise couldn't afford. She wore a matching transparent grey scarf that doubled as a simplistic veil. Her cheeks were painted rosy and her eyelashes curled with beeswax, she was ready for her date.

Arthur wore a maroon buttoned up waistcoat and a cotton white shirt underneath, his nether regions were clad with a pair of dark grey breeches. He was uncharacteristically anxious, pacing back and forth in front of the brougham carriage parked outside Gwen's cabin. He was meaning to take her to a forest a few miles away where they would engage in a picnic. He wasn't one to get nervous so easily but thoughts about his dear Guinevere assisted in raising his stress levels. Guinevere with a smile so endearing, so humble, that he couldn't help it if his stomach produced butterflies by the sight of it. Her dark hair, always arranged in some sort of bohemian braid with stray locks falling down her robust shoulders. With a small waist, so easy to embrace, and with a voice so husky yet so so sweet.

"Jesus christ, Arthur. You practically see her everyday, calm down," Merlin was accompanying the trip only to act as a chauffeur. "Shut up, Merlin. I'm fine," Arthur chided

"Is everything alright, sire?" Arthur had failed to notice that the subject of his thoughts had exited her house and was now standing in front of him. "Guinevere," he sighed while his shoulder simultaneously dropped and all of his tension withered away by the sight of her, "I'm alright, love. Shall we get inside the carriage?" Gwen greeted Merlin before nodding in response to Arthur and climbed into the carriage.


End file.
